ShipRecycling Pages:

31 January 2016

Record low for container ships:

This year's global container ship capacity is expected to grow at a pace
of only 4.6 per cent, the lowest ever recorded for the global containership
fleet, according to Alphaliner.

Falling below the previously smallest year-on-year increase of 5.5 per
cent, recorded in 2009, this year will register well below the average annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3 per cent, recorded since 1990.

In combination, the slower pace of vessel deliveries and the projected
increase in the numbers of container ships sold for demolition, are expected to
curb 2016 net fleet growth to less than 1 Mteu of nominal vessel capacity.

Adjusted for potential deferrals, vessel deliveries are expected to reach
1.25 Mteu this year, compared to a record capacity of 1.72 Mteu delivered in
2015, and Alphaliner added this figure could end up even lower if the current
weak market demand persists over the course of the year.

"Continued slow demand could prompt owners to delay deliveries of
some ships in their order books, while a small number of orders, placed at
financially troubled yards, could be cancelled altogether," Alphaliner
said.

Vessel scrapping and other deletions are expected to reach an estimated
350,000 teu this year, as sagging demand is expected to increasingly force
owners to de-commission elderly ships.

The number of vessels sold for scrap surged last December, with 15 units
for 51,000 teu sold within that month alone. These ships accounted for more than
a quarter of the total of 192,000 teu scrapped in 2015.